48 posts tagged “peeps”

May you find joy in the little things around you.

Here's the postcard that AmyH sent me from Costa Rica.  It has a cat on it!  Thanks ever so, Amy!

I went a little out of my own neighborhood yesterday.  All the way up to Bay and Bloor (trust me, going that much uptown is rare for me) to have a celebratory drink with my producer, Joan, for having gotten the film option contract for Godblog signed, sealed and delivered.  We were at the Panorama Room, on the 51st floor of the Manulife Centre, and sat out on the terrace.  This was the view out over the city:

 And in the other direction, I can see my building in the distance.  I put a little pink mark off toward the left where it is.  I was surprised I could see it, because it's only 10 stories tall.  I walk to work, which is just a couple of blocks from the CN Tower (the giant swizzle stick on the right).  That's my day-to-day world.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to Philly for a three-day weekend with Cappy, and we shall cross state borders several times to see an array of people, and a few bands, too. 

To my American Voxer friends, have a happy 4th of July! 

Last year I commemorated the day by thanking you for my favorite US export, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  This year, my favorite US (soon-to-be) export is celebrating with his family in southern NJ.

All the red, white and blue makes me think of the West Wing, another fine product of the US, which taught me a great deal about your politics and governance and history (who knew about Big Block of Cheese Day before Aaron Sorkin immortalized it?).  So I'll let Sam Seaborn take us out with a little history lesson:

Sam (to schoolchildren):  The White House, as you know, was built several years ago. Mostly, if I'm not mistaken, out of cement. The room we're in right now, the Roosevelt Room, is very famous. It is named after our 18th president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The chairs that you're sitting on today are fashioned from the lumber of a pirate ship captured during the Spanish-American...

Mallory: All right. Kids, I need to speak to Mr. Seaborn.

I use short stories to as writing craft exercises, a smaller space to try something new, like a new voice or narrative style.  That's what I wanted to do today.  As of 3 p.m., I've spent several hours struggling to get a grasp on the style I want to write this particular tattoo short story in.  The style I'm after is that of Tom's stream-of-consciousness Mental Chex Mixes.  See, the very idea of "stream-of-consciousness" is that it flows out naturally, that you can't "work" at it.

Or can I?  One of my strengths as a writer is the ability to change the style or voice I write in with different pieces.  Other extremely talented writers I know can't do that.  So I'm going to continue this challenge for a while more.

You know you're in the desert when you see place names like Horsethief Basin.  You just can't make this stuff up. 

Yes, I made it to Arizona.  Here's the proof:

That''s me looking drag, and Amy looking fab, at the Phoenix airport.  I have an excuse:  a five-hour flight after getting up at 6 a.m. EST in Toronto, and being in my non-constricting plane clothes.  Amy had just come from a shmancy bridal shower at the Ritz-Carlton, and was still wearing the glow of some guy flirting with her at the Ritz as well.  Amy gets credit for being the first link in the daisy chain of me and Cap'n Crook connecting.  She had him in her Vox neighborhood, and also Cranky, and if Amy hadn't gone to Philly (with her mom) in late 2007, and initiated the peep-meet between the three of them (and her mom), then Cranky and Cappy might not have met up, and Cranky wouldn't ultimately have browbeat Cappy into coming to the Boston Squee Party in 2008 where he and I met.  So, thanks, Amester.

We had a little visit in the terminal, I gave her a bag o' Canadian swag and a coffee ring stamp in her copy of Godblog, and she met my mom and sister ML (photo not available), before my party took off on the shuttle bus to Sedona.

It was awesome seeing cactus as soon as we got into the open (all those tall ones that look like they're being held up at gunpoint), and on the drive we also saw actual tumbleweeds tumbling across the highway.  As once we got to Sedona...Jesus fucking Christ...

Snow.  Bugger.

I came to get away from that stuff!  Okay it's just patches around and about, but still!  We barely have this much left in Toronto.  I'll grant you, once you lift your eyes upward..

....no, higher than that...There is some pretty amazing landscape.  Which I bore you with many more pictures of as the week progresses.  (Damn -- I had a great photo to put in there, but this internet connection isn't letting me load it right now.  So you really will have to wait in suspense.  Sorry.)

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah and the joy of all other winter festivals and delights to my Vox neighborhood.  You're the best, and it means a lot to me to be part of this community.  It was extra wonderful to get to meet that wonderful bunch of you in Boston as well. 

Thank you to everyone for all your support and celebration for my book this year.  I hope there will be many more to follow.

I wish you all the best the new year can possibly bring.

Laurie

P.S.  As a special treat, for those who have read Godblog (or those who want a bit of the flavor of it), I'm posting a deleted scene from the novel in the Hero of the Teeming Masses group.  It's a public group, so anyone who wants to can look at it.  Quite appropriately, the scene takes place on Boxing Day.

You are an important voice in my neighborhood in your passion for good food, good people, and the good in people.  You have a fine partner, animals to love, and many, many Vox friends.  You give back to your community and are a vocal advocate for the rights that you shouldn't even have to fight for, if this were a sane world.

Happy Birthday, Myke!  I hope Kevin and the "kids" treat you like a king today.

 

Here is a great little giftie cranky gave me, because she knows I like stone lions.  It's a little plaque to go on my wall.

It goes perfectly in my living room/solarium, because I have lots of red there.  I also already have one small lion head hanging in the arrangement over the desk where I write, so this is a great addition to that wall.  Thanks very much, cranky!

Note that right below cranky's lion is the mini Anne Bonny action figure that I picked up at the memorable Boston Squee Party this summer.  (I think it was cranky who found it in the Aquarium gift shop.)

Here's more of the whole wall arrangement.  That's another skeleton cut off on the top, and a Blackbeard action figure cut off on the far right.

Complete change of subject, for you dog lovers out there, this is Missy, a dacshund/terrier cross puppy belonging to one of my co-workers, who came to spend the day at the office yesterday.

The only way I could get a photo where she wasn't a blur whizzing by was to wait till she exhausted herself after the first couple of hours of running around exploring everything. 

And finally, for mariser, photos of the new sweaters I bought recently, that she wanted to see.  I'm wearing the yellow one today.  The cable knit one has angora in it.

 

It has been really hard to find that bright yellow color for years.  I had to ditch a sweater that color 10 years ago because it got a stain on it that wouldn't come out, and have been keeping my eyes peeled ever since.  (Sorry, it looks a little greenish in my crappy bathroom lighting.  Trust me, it's a gorgeous egg-yolk color.)

...I just have to say how heart-warming it is to know I'm flying into Obama-land today and not McCain Country.

I'm off for my weekend in with the Cap'n in Philly, peeps.  See you late Sunday.

 

Somehow, getting up too early because of the time change still didn't get me at the writing until after 12, anyway.  The first thing I wrote after sitting down is an FSotD.  Except it's not really a complete sentence.  Let me 'splain. 

This novel I'm currently writing has a lot of scenes set in an office.  Every new scene that marks a new day in the office has a header that includes the date and, among other things, what's in the candy dish at Reception.  So today's is this:

(Candy dish contents:  individually-gold-boxed, decadent chocolate ultra-truffles from the Groveling Apology line in Godiva’s Bribe collection)

 

And here's a spare:

 

The blow of losing Jason was the giant, bare, cartoon foot that crushed the will to live right out of Shylene, Monty-Python style.

I'm giving you a second one today (one I edited past as I head for the ending), because I won't be writing next weekend.  I'll be on a weekend trip (my first) to Philadelphia.   Most of you are counting down to the presidential election, and yes, I'm very interested in how that turns out, too.  But every time I hear the number of days left to election day, I automatically add 3.  Because that takes me to my flight (and more importantly, my arrival) on Friday.

Obviously, I'm going to visit Cap'n Crook (after a looong seven weeks apart).  And I hear from that Philadelphia is a great city to spend time in.  Added bonus:  we're also going to drop in on Cranky and Elvis, and see a couple of bands. 

Five days and counting...